Northeast Technical Poomse Tournament in CT

Austen, Peter and I had a very exciting weekend, heading to Connecticut for the Northeast Technical (Poomse) championship tournament on Sunday and a 3 hour workout/seminar with Great Grandmaster Hae Man Park on Saturday. Both events were put on by Grandmaster Turgeon of Connecticut Chungdokwan.
Here I am after the seminar with GGM Hae Man Park. I am told he is approximately 80 years old. He is one of the founding fathers of TKD and is GM Turgeon's instructor. GGM Park's office at TKD headquarters in Korea is next to GGM Tae Sung Lee's. GGM Lee is our instructor (Master Chase)'s instructor. Its a little complicated, but basically, GGM Park is one of the highest ranking black belts in TKD and the chairman of the group that originally wrote all of the TKD forms that we practice. It was great to learn the forms from the person that wrote the forms!We came down to the seminar with Master Chase and Miss Buckholts from the Randolph Blue Wave group. Because Master Chase was a referee for the tournament on Sunday, and we were tagging along with him, we got to have lasagna dinner at GM Turgeon's house with GGM Park and the other referees. Very cool!We all spent the night at Master Tetreault's house. The whole Tetreault family was very generous. We had a great time with them, playing cards and watching the Yankees/Angels game. Thank you so much!The next day was the tournament. Here is the Blue Wave contingent. Miss Pavlo came down from Burlington to compete and Master Robinson was a referee. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot came down too!It was the first tournament the boys have ever competed in that was not in Randolph, so there were some nerves to contend with! They both competed very well. There were a lot of competitors from GM Turgeon's gyms in Connecticut, but people came from all over. Several from Pennsylvania, also New York, Massachusetts and probably other gyms too.
Here's Peter.
. . . . and Austen. The boys were in different divisions. They each performed 2 forms of their choice. There were 5 judges or referees scoring electronically --- similar to how figure skating or gymnastics is scored. The highest and lowest scores are thrown out. They have a max of 5 points each for presentation and technical correctness -- for each form.
It was all smiles after the event. Blue Wavers got 2 firsts and 2 seconds. The scores for Austen and Peter are below --- This is their first time with this scoring system.

Thanks to Master Chase for taking us. We're already thinking about when to compete next. Maybe all of us will compete next time!

Peter doing Form 7 (Tae guk chil jang).

Austen doing Form 8 (Tae guk pal jang).

Black Belt

Blue Wave TKD Summer Camp 2009 was a blast --- as usual! This year Friday night testing included me testing for recommended black belt! WOOHOO!


The Black Belt Board is ready.
Randolph dojang is watching.My parents were there to watch!After the first group of candidates testing for decided black belt, my group went on the mats for the recommended testing. Line-up for testing is by age within each rank. Surprisingly to me, I was 4th oldest of the 6 candidates. Usually, I'm the gray-beard!
We had a kibbons (warm-ups), followed by poomse (forms), free kicking, ho shin sool (self-defense), sparring, one-step sparring and board breaking.I had 2 sparring matches with Drew from the Hinesburg dojang. After the testing I realized I probably broke my left big toe!
Saturday and Sunday are full of work-outs and group activities. This is our 4th year at summer camp, so now all the kids meet up with their buddies from other dojangs. Here's Cora, Ella and Britney.


Maddie and Zuzu.

Slip and slide!

Austen and Peter test for Black Stripe!

On Friday, July 17, a good chunk of the Randolph dojang journeyed to Bradford, VT to support Austen and Peter testing for their first gup rank, which gives them a black stripe on their red belt. Several other students from East Haven and Bradford also either mock tested or actually tested for first gup. I participated with a black belt mock testing along with three Bradford students, Mark and his son, Johnathan and Margaret.

The boys did great! They had fantastic energy, good high kicks, excellent free kicking and had a great sparring match. Congratulations to them both. They are now one step short of black belt, which they have both said is now their goal in TKD! If they are able to keep on track, they will test for black belt at Winter Camp in Manchester, NH in late February 2010.

Master Chase must have wanted to give us all a chance to perform under pressure. There was a huge black belt board watching and judging the testing. He asked everyone to wear their uniforms to Bradford, but we thought only Austen, Peter and I would be actually doing TKD. WRONG! Canyen and PJ did a mock testing while Austen and Peter actually tested, and Heather, Cora and all the green belts that were there were called out to perform their testing forms. That gets your adreneline going, just ask Heather!
Check out Austen's high side kick and Peter's air during free kicking!
I think this is Tae Guk Sa jang --- the fourth form. Excellent foot position and leg extension on their side kicks. Peter was closest to the photographer and Austen is behind Peter.
Here's Austen breaking the first board in his 4-station sequence of breaks. He nailed it.
I think this is Peter's 3rd break. Looking very good!
I was lucky enough to have a mock testing to prepare for my real black belt test which is in 2 weeks in Tunbridge at the Fairgrounds. My three mock testing partners from Bradford will also be testing in Tunbridge, probably with some others from the other Blue Wave dojangs. There are usually around 8 black belt candidates at the twice a year testings. This is a testing for "recommended" black belt. If I pass that test, then I will have a shorter version of the same testing at the next Winter Camp to confirm this testing.
I was pretty amped up for the testing and had good energy throughout --- maybe a little too much! I had problems breaking my boards, most likely because I was so amped up my focus was a little lost. At least I know what to work on for summer camp.